Mafia boss: Domenico Rancadore, who was arrested in Uxbridge, west London, was denied bail today

A fugitive Mafia boss wanted by the
Italian authorities told officers who arrested him 'I’m not going back,
they will kill me', a court heard.

Domenico Rancadore, 64, is wanted in Italy to serve a seven-year jail term for his role in the criminal underworld.

The mafia boss who fled to Britain in 1995, a chauffeur with a host of celebrity and business
clients, was arrested in his semi-detached bungalow he shares with his wife in Uxbridge, west London, earlier this month.

Dubbed 'The Professor', he is reputed to have been the 'capo' - or boss - of the Cosa Nostra in the criminal heartland of Trabia, Sicily.

Rancadore was denied bail for a second time at Westminster Magistrates’ Court
today after Prosecutor Aaron Watkins said there were 'overwhelming
grounds' to suspect he would go on the run if he was released.

Mr
Watkins said it was 'telling' that the former teacher, who was living
under the assumed name Marc Skinner, had expressed his unwillingness to
return to Italy to uniformed police officers.

Rancadore
wore a rugby shirt and clutched a white Bible as a female interpreter
translated District Judge Quentin Purdy’s rejection of his request for
bail.

He shook his head and exchanged glances with English wife Anne Skinner, who sat in the public gallery.

The court heard that he had offered Mrs Skinner’s home in Uxbridge as a surety for bail, in addition to £10,000.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Mr Purdy said Rancadore would appear before the same court via video link on September 20.

Westminster
Magistrates' Court was told earlier this month that Rancadore was a
leader in a murderous gang that 'spread terror in Sicily'.

But
defence barrister Alun Jones QC questioned today whether he had a
senior role, saying that 'someone in Italy has thought "We'd better
ratchet up the pressure"' to give that impression.

In the dock: Domenico Rancadore is seen as he appears at Westminster Magistrates Court for an earlier bail hearing

Telling
the court that Rancadore suffered from hyptertension, angina and
reflux, he said: 'In our submission a man in this condition, with family
ties to this country, with his wife's house and £10,000, is not going
to abscond.'

Acknowledging
that his client had been living under an assumed name, which he has used
to get treatment from the NHS, he said: 'His case is that he has used
the name of Skinner because he has no trust in the Italian legal
authorities.'

Mr Jones said
that Rancadore was the only defendant who had not been acquitted of
Mafia organisation charges that required the involvement of three or
more people.

He was
convicted of Mafia links in Italy in his absence after he came to live
in the UK with his family in 1993, the court has previously heard.

He
had been acquitted of previous Mafia charges that year after spending
months in custody and more than two years under house arrest.

Home: This is the house in Uxbridge, London
where fugitive Mafia boss Domenico Rancadore had been living with his
wife and two children until he was arrested